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3.Levinson would bring to Benson new ideas, management expertise and dynamism.
Director - Corporate Strategy
In your view, the present Chief Executive is no longer suitable to lead the Benson
Group. He’s too old and has ‘lost his touch’. Try to suggest - in a diplomatic way - that he should give up his job. You would like to bring in someone from outside to run the Group. This person would probably be the successful head of another organization. To attract the right candidate, Benson should offer a top salary, a share in profits, and other benefits. As a long-term strategy, the company should consider building huge stores in out-of-town locations where customers would have a lot of parking space.
Director - Public Relations
You feel strongly that Benson must go down-market and compete directly with Levinson Brothers. Young people are pouring into the South, so Benson must aim its marketing at the 15-25-year-old consumer. After all, these days, young people have plenty of money to spend. Therefore, you want Benson to:
1.redecorate the stores in bright colors, blue and yellow perhaps
2.change its sales approach by gradually offering more goods appealing to young people
3.introduce new types of racks and counters which allow self-service
4.have eye-catching window displays to attract teenagers and young adults.
You will, of course, have other suggestions for attracting young people.
Director - Corporate Finance
You have no doubt that the company must cut costs and increase its cash flow as quickly as possible. Benson needs cash to reduce its loan capital – this is much too high - and to finance its future development. To cut costs, the company must reduce its work-force by 20%. The Group must also have a new distribution system, with one or two large centers supplying goods to all the stores. This will reduce stock levels. You have plenty of ideas for improving the cash flow. For example, the stores could increase the profit margins on goods which were selling well. In addition, they should be ready to buy up cheap, good-quality merchandise. This could be sold in a special part of the stores, known as The Market Place.
Director - Marketing
You want the company to bring in specialist management consultants to do a study of Benson. They could work with the Marketing Department and Corporate Strategy Unit. Their job would be to analyze the organization, and make recommendations about future strategy. It might be a good idea, too, if Benson developed new activities. For example, they could open an optician’s service - very profitable - or offer financial services. A Financial Department could trade in stocks and shares, offer credit facilities, store credit cards, etc. You have several other ideas for new activities.
Director - Personnel and Staff Development
For some time, you have wanted to have a three-week training program, for all sales staff. After the program, they would be allowed to choose which department they wished to work in. Whenever you have suggested this scheme, the Finance director has opposed it. “We can’t afford it,” he always says. Try once again to persuade the board to agree with the proposal. You think, also, that Benson should stop all its concessions. Outside firms renting space in the stores should be encouraged not to
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renew their contracts. The company must sell its own goods and build up its own image. In the long run, you would like an architectural solution to Benson problems. Stores should have a central elevator system and an ultra-modern shopping arcade on the top floor, under a giant glass dome.
Non-Executive Director
Discuss Benson’s problems with your colleague, the other non-executive director on the board. You are both advisers to the board. You may, therefore, make any suggestions or comments you wish concerning Benson Strategy. Be ready to criticize proposals made by other directors.
What steps would you take to recover the company if you were the managers of the Benson Group? What would be your recommendations?
personality clash – личная ссора
hostile workforce – враждебно настроенные рабочие
to make someone redundant – сократить кого-то, уволить to hang on to weaknesses – цепляться за слабости
to give a rationale – представить мотив
to come to the conclusion – прийти к выводу to view changes – рассматривать изменения to encourage people – вдохновлять людей to swing the door open – распахнуть дверь to invigorate people – бодрить, оживлять
to relish changes – наслаждаться переменами increment – прирост, увеличение, прибыль
1.Be a risk-taker. Those who are reluctant to take risks don’t innovate.
2.Be illogical. An over-reliance on logic kills off ideas before they have a chance to develop.
3.Let yourself be stupid from time to time. Great ideas often start out as stupid ideas.
4.Regularly rethink things. Problem-solving frequently involves breaking up problems into parts and putting them back together again in a different way.
5.Take advantage of lucky breaks. The most creative people never ignore an opportunity.
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Reading
Jack Welch successfully led General Electric through a period of great change. Do you think he sees change as a danger, an opportunity or a challenge? What is
Jack Welch’s general attitude to change?
1.“We want to be a company that is constantly renewing itself, leaving the past behind, adapting to change and innovation. Managements that hang on to weakness for whatever reason – tradition, sentiment, or their own management weakness – won’t be around in the future”.
2.“How do you bring people into the change process? Start with reality. Get all of the facts out. Give people rationale for change, laying it out in a clearest, most dramatic terms. When everybody gets the same facts, they’ll generally come to the same conclusion.”
3.“The difference between winning and losing will be how the men and women of our company view change. If they see it as a threat, we lose. But if they are provided with the educational tools and are encouraged to use them – to the point where they see change as an opportunity, then every door we must pass through to win big around the world will swing open to us.”
4.“Gradual change doesn’t work very well in the type of transformation General Electric has gone through. If your change isn’t big enough, the bureaucracy can beat you. Look at Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt. They said, ”This is what it’s going to be.” And then they did it. Big bold changes.”
5.“(GE leaders always) have enormous energy and the ability to energize and invigorate others, to stimulate and relish change and not be frightened or paralyzed by it, and to see change as an opportunity, not a threat.”
6.“Most bureaucracies unfortunately still think in incremental terms rather than in terms of fundamental change. Changing the culture means constantly asking now how fast am I going, how well am I doing versus how well I did a year or two years before? How fast and how well am I doing compared with the world outside? Are we moving faster, and are we doing better against that external standard?”
1.Find words or phrases in the quotations which suggest the idea of change.
2.Find words or phrases in the quotations which mean:
a.to seek for changes
b.to become suitable for new needs and different conditions
c.to try to keep something
d.reasons or principles on which a system or practice is based
e.potential danger
f.to consider something
g.to stimulate
h.to defeat
i.risky, courageous
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j.to give a feeling of freshness and healthy strength
k.to enjoy
l.increase in money or value
3.Translate the following text into English using the following words in the right form:
generate |
tackle |
solve |
come up with |
cut back on |
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capitalize on |
promote |
allocate |
make breakthrough |
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Компании, которые готовы вкладывать деньги в научные исследования, знают, что эти деньги не будут потрачены зря. Многие из них вкладывают до 20 % от своего товарооборота в новые исследования в надежде, что отделы, занятые разработкой и исследованием, смогут выйти с дельными предложениями, которые обеспечат предприятию хорошие прибыли и процветание. А те компании, которые во времена экономических спадов решают уменьшить средства, выделяемые на исследование, возможно, совершают большую ошибку.
В передовых, развивающихся компаниях все отделы занимаются производством новых идей для улучшения бизнеса. Некоторые из этих идей при последующей разработке, могут оказаться полезными и будут содействовать успеху компании. Воспользовавшись этими новыми идеями, компания может совершить настоящий прорыв в бизнесе, оставляя своих конкурентов далеко позади.
Компании не должны бояться браться за решение проблем, не говоря уже об их готовности решать проблемы.
Listen to the second part of the interview. Jeremy talks about a situation in which
change was handled well. |
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Make notes under the headings below. |
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Situation |
Chief Executive |
Communication |
Difficult decisions |
Case study |
Acquiring Metrot: Agree on changes at a company that has been |
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taken over |
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Background |
Company Profile |
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Company |
Cornerstone group |
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Workforce |
35,000 |
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Turnover |
$4.1bn |
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Located |
Dallas, US |
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Net profit |
11% of turnover (approx.) |
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Cornerstone have recently bought the French white goods company, Jean Metrot. Jean Metrot are well-known for producing cookers and refrigerators, as well as the range of household appliances. They have their headquarters to the east of Paris, and two other factories in the North of France.
3.Metrot’s biggest asset is its valuable land. Cornerstone could use this to grow the company or may sell off some of the land to finance the acquisition.
Metrot is an excellent acquisition. There may be problems when US style management is introduced. Metrot has always been family-owned, and Chief executive, Jean Metrot, takes a personal interest in his employees.
The new Chief Executive will be Hugh Whitman. In his early 30s, trained at Harvard University, Whitman was formerly Executive Vice President of the Cornerstone Group.
Jean Metrot will remain on the board as an adviser.
It is now nine months later. The change of ownership and new management style at Metrot have caused many problems. The memo below illustrates some of the difficulties.
Memo |
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To: |
Dan Johnson, Personnel Director |
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From: |
Jacques Lafront, Union Organiser |
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Subject: |
Staff morale |
Date: March 18 |
Staff are very unhappy with the present changes.
As a result, productivity has fallen and staff turnover is high. Let me summarize some of the reasons for the staff’s low morale.
1.Factory inspections. American managers are always checking up on us and taking notes. No one knows why they are doing this or what they are up to.
2.Redundancies. Since June, about 60 employees from the Development Department have lost their jobs. They were given no reasons. The staff thinks that this is unprofessional.
3.Further changes. People are looking for new jobs elsewhere. They want to move before they are pushed. People are afraid that the new management will relocate